coroner stood in front of him, his normally quiet demeanor agitated.
“What’s that?”
“It looks like her ribs were smashed in, probably collapsing at least one lung. She took a brutal beating before she was shot.”
“Damn it.”
“Rio, you and I both know that while the rumors may prove correct, unless we have evidence of wrongdoing, we can’t ask for a search warrant on the new mayor’s residence. No can do.” Colt Todd, Silver Valley’s superintendent of police, leveled his cool gaze on Rio. There was no sense in arguing with him.
“Yes, sir.”
“We can’t afford to do anything less than what’s perfectly legal and appropriate throughout this investigation. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.” Rio couldn’t argue with his boss, not on this one. SVPD had plenty going on at the moment, between providing testimony to put a serial killer behind bars for life, keeping an eye on a cult from New York that was trying to reunite in their jurisdiction and investigating the validity of the evidence they’d collected against the former mayor. Of course, Rio didn’t think for one minute that their former mayor had been involved in any of the charges against her. It was a setup, and he’d bet his last dollar that the new mayor was at least peripherally involved, if not behind the entire scheme.
“Do you have any leads on the victim?” Todd’s face had its usual neutral expression, but Rio heard the weariness in his tone. SVPD was being slammed from all sides by crimes that, while they looked unrelated, were proving to be linked in damning ways. The major connection was to the former cult members, all convicted felons. SVPD had to have proof to request restraining orders, or to force these suspicious new citizens of Silver Valley to leave by having the state rescind its permission to allow them to serve probation in Pennsylvania instead of New York.
“I have a few leads, sir. Two officers are out now, informing the victim’s parents. The victim is Meredith Houseman, age twenty-seven, Silver Valley resident. A graduate of Mount St. Mary’s College in Maryland. She had a degree in political science. She worked as a political intern in DC and here in Harrisburg before landing the job with Mayor Charbonneau. She was living at home with her parents while she earned money to go to law school—she’d been accepted by Penn State to study at Dickinson.”
“Damn shame.” Colt Todd shook his head, his frown deepening to a scowl. “There’s going to be a huge backlash with this, especially the media. They’re still not satisfied Charbonneau got into office legally.”
Neither was Rio, and he suspected his boss agreed, but it wasn’t anything they verbalized. It didn’t matter, not until they found solid evidence that the new mayor was behind any illegal doings. SVPD wasn’t a small department, with thirty officers and two to three detectives depending upon operational tempo. It was considered midsize and was usually more than enough to serve the twenty thousand citizens of Silver Valley.
“Debbie’s on it, sir.” Rio referred to the SVPD’s spokesperson. She’d moved up from her job as receptionist when the Female Preacher Killer had been in the middle of his killing spree, wreaking havoc on Silver Valley last Christmas.
“Great. One more thing, Rio. You’d better sit down for this.”
Here it comes.
“You understand that you have to consider Kayla Paruso as a suspect. And then, once you clear her, we need to keep an eye on her. Make sure she’s safe.”
“She isn’t a killer, sir.”
Todd held up his hands. “For legal purposes, Rio. I know damn well she’s not a criminal, much less a murderer. But this is the second murder investigation she’s involved in, and she is the only witness to this one. We have no other leads and I will not have the DA or governor coming after SVPD for anything procedurally imperfect.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Stop placating me, Rio. Do all of the usual work-ups you’d do on any other suspect. It won’t be as heavy a workload since you did a preliminary investigation on her after she delivered those flowers to Zora Krasny last Christmas. For all we know the crazy cult might be trying to get to her next.” He referred to the bouquet of flowers a serial killer had sent to the person he’d hoped would be a future victim via Kayla’s floral shop. But Zora had been working undercover with fellow SVPD detective Bryce Campbell to lure the criminal out. The case had gotten larger than expected when Zora’s biological mother, a member of a cult Zora had helped break up when she escaped as a child, showed up in Silver Valley. The same cult members were being released from prison and were settling in a trailer park on the outskirts of town.
“Sir, we both know she’s not a suspect. Not really. And her involvement with the potential cult is nil. On a personal note, I know her—knew her—well. She’s a good person, boss.”
Colt searched his face and a slow grin cracked his usual tough expression. “Nice to know you have at least some kind of a personal life, Rio. Nevertheless, we both know how important it is to keep our paperwork in order. Since you don’t think she’s culpable, there isn’t any conflict of interest as far as I’m concerned.” Colt Todd leaned forward and rubbed his temples before he opened his eyes.
“The cult nonsense isn’t going to go away quickly or quietly. We’re dealing with some very determined people who will do anything to gain a foothold of power in a place like Silver Valley. We have everything they’d want—access to major East Coast highways, proximity to New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and DC. We have good people here for the most part. But the heroin dealers and counterfeiters are taking their toll.”
“We’re going to beat them, too, boss.”
“Yes, we are. We may need some help along the way, though.”
“We already have FBI and Treasury working in our area, sir.” Rio had no issues with the Feds and had, in fact, made several good contacts with agents operating locally. It was a mutually beneficial exchange of information and they all wanted the same thing: to put the bad guys behind bars and keep them the hell out of Silver Valley. “You’re talking about the Trail Hikers?”
“Yeah.”
Rio was familiar with the Trail Hikers, a government shadow agency that contracted agents who worked undercover, not only in Silver Valley and the Harrisburg area, but also throughout the United States as needed.
“I’m not full-time TH, sir, but I’ve been cleared to operate with them, and I received the introductory training. I’m aware of what they’re capable of. But I don’t think we’re in that much of a bind yet.”
“I didn’t think we were, either, but without their help we would have never brought down the Female Preacher Killer in time. We might still be chasing that bastard.”
“Sir, we’ll get Meredith’s killer, too. He’s amateur at best, to have confronted the mayor’s personal assistant in a place where anyone could have walked in at any time. Chances are it’s someone the mayor knows.” He wanted to wrap this up with Todd. Kayla was somewhere in the building, waiting to give her statement. But Colt wasn’t done with him.
“Watch it, Rio. We can’t start operating on assumptions. We both know where that will get us. I’m asking you to keep an open mind. If you see anyone you think is a Trail Hiker, you can’t let them know you suspect there’s a bigger investigation afoot. It’s for all of our safety.”
“Keep my eyes open and my mouth shut. I know the routine, boss.”
That got a full grin out of Colt Todd, a rarity when his boss was stressed.
As Rio let himself out of his superior’s office, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it might be the last smile he’d see from his boss in a long time.
*